My evaluation of people canât be said to be very flattering, but by being an individual capable of achieving a position as captain at a young age, that much should be fine, that is what it means to be one that walks the path of the elite .
However, in addition to having a bad attitude in general, my work attitude couldnât be considered serious at all, resulting in some friction to form between my colleagues who couldnât accept my personality .
The origin of that personality forming can be dated back to the friendship between myself and the boy that would one day be known as the Knightâs Deputy Captain, the one whoâs admired by everyone .
Born and raised in the same rural village, we were so-called childhood friends .
We both lived in common households and spent our early childhoods surrounded by nature, it was very peaceful life .
âŠand that peace was shattered when we were seven years old .
Out of nowhere, the village was attacked by bandits, the people that we grew up knowing, killed or abducted . The food and money we had saved up, plundered .
But that wasnât enough was it? Monsters swarmed in from everywhere, the barrier that once protected us destroyed during the pillaging . They probably caught the smell of the blood and food .
It was impossible for us to prevent the monster invasion when we couldnât even exercise our defense measures properly .
The smell of blood and the screams of the people echoed throughout the town as we were attacked by wave after wave of bandits and monsters, flames burning everywhere . It was hell .
Although Vincent and I were somehow able to survive the onslaught, I lost my family and the town had been destroyed to the point of being irreparable .
There was nothing left for us other than an inevitable sense of despair . For us two orphans, there was nothing we could do other than be sad .
If that was the case then we might as well die, right? The me of that time seriously considered that option . How could I stay alive while the rest of my family was deadâŠ
But then I remembered, Vincent was still by my side, how the hell could I leave him all alone? He was small, a crybaby, and my best friend . The same friend who hid behind me all the time because he was shy . I had to live on .
I at least wanted Vincent to live if I had to die .
But if I died, a boy as vulnerable as he was wouldnât last very long .
Well, even if I said that, we were still just children . The chances of us both surviving were low from the start .
Still, there was no way I could abandon Vincent and choose death .
So thatâs why I asked him, âI donât care whether I live or die any more, but what about you? Do you want to die together with me or live on?â
ââŠI want to live . I donât want to die⊠itâs scaryâŠ!â
That was Vincentâs answer, even in a situation like that he was too afraid to die .
To be honest, I couldnât understand that feeling of his very well, I honestly thought that the easiest way to escape my despair at that moment was death .
But for his sake, I thought it was fine . I knew that to choose such a path even after seeing his determination would only make me a coward .
In truth, maybe it was the strength that Vincent showed at that moment to choose life over death that saved me at that time . Without it, I probably wouldâve chosen death at that place .
At that moment, the two of us stood up, our hands clasped together . We had come to an agreement that didnât need words to be understood .
The two kids who had no one to depend on did everything they could to survive .
In the place that was our hometown just a few days ago, we pillaged corpses and fields for food, we stole from people for money, and in the slums that were now our home, we even killed people in self-defence .
It almost felt like we were slaughtering the monsters that attacked us .
Running through such death and despair, at the age of ten we began to mimic mercenaries, marching off to battlefields to engage in the suppression of monsters .
Cowardly Vincent and I were steadily getting stronger, and it was around that time we started to see the changes .
Vincent had a surprising talent for the sword, and every time we went off to battle, I could feel us growing stronger and stronger .
We didnât live life to the fullest, we lived every day to just live another day . It really was a terrible life .
Before I knew it, Vincent stopped laughing or crying, I didnât want to see my friend like this .
I guess someone did die at that time, someone that was actually happy . I started to think so around this time .
After about three more years of working as a mercenary, I received a minor wound due to a lack of concentration in a middle of a battle . Although it wasnât life-threatening, it was impossible for me to continue the battle with such a wound .
But when youâre in the middle of a war, nobody cares about such things . My opponent at the time saw that as an opportunity and raised his sword .
I didnât have the power nor intention to avoid that blow at that moment .
The sword swung down towards my eyes as I waited for my life to end, but right before the blade reached me, the flash of two swords swept by .
The first sliced my opponentâs arms off while the second cleaved into his waist, ending his life without even giving him time to scream .
With blood dripping from his head from a wound he received earlier, Vincent turned back to look at me . The person dyed in blood in front of me and the person who I called my best friend looked completely different from one another .
Silently, he lent me his shoulder, and we withdrew to the safety zone . I was finally able to catch my breath .
âCody, are you alright?â
âI am but⊠thatâs the first time youâve had to protect me . â
ââŠis that so? I see⊠well, itâs not a bad feeling . â
âHuh? What is?â
âThe feeling of protecting my friend, I mean . â
ââŠâ
âTheyâre so dirty⊠are we really supposed to protect people with hands as bloody as this?â
As he said so, Vincent clasped his fists . Was it in joy or regret I wonder? It was impossible for me to understand what he was feeling .
Even so, for Vincent to only be thinking of protecting another at such a time had to be a sign .
âWell, why canât you protect them?â
âHuh?â
Vincentâs showed a stupid expression for a moment .
It was unbearably funny, but I forced myself to say what I could .
âIf you join the Order, canât you protect hundreds, no, thousands of people, and not just me?â
âHow could vagrants like us ever join the OrderâŠâ
âIts unreasonable, but itâs nothing compared to the hardships we had to go through to survive so far . â
âCodyâŠâ
âThe hell Vincent, youâre clearly stronger than me, but I canât be that weak . â
âW-what about our pasts?â
âThat doesnât matter! They wonât care about things that happened so early in our lives like where we were born and raised! âŠprobably . â
ââŠâ
âChoose Vincent, will you keep living as you do now, or will go ahead and join the Knight Order?â
ââŠitâs just like that time . â
At that time, I asked him whether he wanted to live or die in front of a devastated town .
If I recall correctly, it had already been six years since that time .
âCody, I want to change this world where the weak are stepped on by the strong . â
âChange the world⊠Hey, youâre making a big deal again . â
âI canât do it alone though, thereâs no way I could achieve this dream without your power . â
âThe knights arenât exactly my thing though . I donât really want to be above people, and Iâm lazy . â
âEven so, I want to do this with you . A place where children like us will never appear again, I want to make that kind of world . â
ââŠyouâre going to be the death of me . â
âDonât worry about giving me your answer now, give me your answer after we finish this fight . â
While leaving me with the relief staff, Vincent immediately returned to the front lines .
Gazing at his back, for the first time in my life, my little friend who always hid behind me, had taken steps in front of me to chase his own dreams . I always thought I was the one protecting him, but even if I wasnât next to him, I sure that Vincent had the ability to make it .
But surely that doesnât meanâŠ
He said with a serious face that heâd change the world, and as I thought of that, I couldnât help but find myself laughing .
With each laugh, my stomach hurt but I still didnât stop laughing .
âIf Iâm with this guy, will my life ever be okay?â
My misunderstanding that I understood as I looked at Vincentâs back that day as he ran towards the front lines has been engraved into my mind forever .
â â â
(Even if his mouth says so, thereâs no way Harold could really mean that judging by his appearance)
Thatâs why Iâm standing in front of Harold now .
Thereâs no reason or basis as to why, there was only a feeling and intuition that I had to do this .
Harold looked exactly like Vincent did .
A boy who had succumbed to absurd dreams .
Oh, Iâm the worst . Without even considering Haroldâs feelings Iâm trying to help him one-sidedly .
Worrying about him, when he doesnât want to be worried about .
Such a selfishness as if I were entrusting my own daughter and best friend to Harold . I will take him back even if I have to beat him down to do it .
I pulled my sword out and took my stance as the sound of sharp metal rang out .
I always wondered what Harold would be like if he fought seriously . Speed, technique, magical prowess, Harold is far above anyone in the same year as himself .
Although I was able to channel my fighting techniques into avoiding attacks with somersaults, swift kicks would deftly follow, aiming for my hands that I used for balance to cripple my movement .
It was a way of fighting where you wouldnât be able to predict where the attack would come from . An extremely difficult technique to pull off .
But I canât allow myself to be defeated here .
I asked Harold as we exchanged blows at high speed .
âHarold, what are your dreams for the future?â
It was a question with truly no context at all .
But Harold returned my words without being particularly upset .
âI live for myself, thatâs it . â
A brief answer that he lived for himself .
The exact opposite of Vincent who chose the path of protecting others .
But for some reason, I couldnât help but feel they were similar .
âWell then, hereâs another question: Have you ever thought of making friends?â
âSuch things are unnecessary . â
To avoid getting hit with the kick that he threw out during the exchange, I backed off a bit .
Without making a fatal blow, I have to finish the fight . I have to win without hurting him too badly .
âDonât you have anything you want to do?! You should make use of your life to leave a legacy behind for others to follow!â
âThose are just the words of the weak!â
I wonât deny it . In the first place, humans are weak creatures . So we flock together and seek connections .
Itâs fine because weâre human, we can be weak .
We can support, be supported, connect with others and be strengthened .
But Harold cuts everything down . He tries to become strong himself without believing in anyone other than himself .
Itâs too lonely . I canât imagine how much we ordinary people would have to cut down to obtain his strength .
Harold has been walking a path that was different from Vincent and I . Perhaps heâs still only halfway down his road .
I donât know what his goal is, but he wonât stop . Not until his life is exhausted .
Even so, even if the circumstances were different, even if the place youâre aiming for is the exact opposite of what we were .
That appearance of yours thatâs trying to resist the world overlaps with the Vincent who intends to change the world in an impossible way .
So I have to help you .
âA world where children like us will never appear again . â
Because that is the oath I made with Vincent that day .